Bonjour tout le monde! The past week has been pretty tame. I stayed in Aix for the weekend to prepare for my midterms this week, though somehow I didn’t end up doing much studying. Go figure. I guess I wouldn’t be a college student if I didn’t procrastinate.
I went out to Le Sunset during the week and enjoyed the happy hour special with my friends Zach and Mike. They have girafes for 10 Euros before 10:30 so we went out a little early and ordered a couple at 10:25 to keep on reserve. We got into an argument with some Englanders that turned out to be pretty amusing. They were talking about how stupid Americans are and how we don’t even know our own history and what not. One of them was determined to prove to us that we were idiots because we said we have 50 states instead of 46 states and 4 commonwealths. Anyway it was pretty funny watching everyone get worked up. Some people just shouldn’t drink.
I spent another night walking around Aix with Zach and Mike looking at all the buildings and admiring how they are all crooked and hover over the streets. After we got tired of walking around we stopped in at the hookah bar for some tea and Apple Hashish (I think that’s how you spell it?). As usual we were the center of attention because no matter how hard we try to blend in at the end of the day we are just loud Americans, Mike especially. You practically have to whisper everywhere you go in this country or you will get stared down.
Friday I went wine tasting with a group of about 30 people from IAU. We went to a small restaurant with a room upstairs where you can sit and learn about wine tasting. After that you go downstairs to a special area with about 50 different wines you can taste. We went upstairs where the owner taught us about different wines, how they are made and how to taste them. He had another session before us and I guess he didn’t spit out the wine because he was pretty drunk come the middle of our discussion. He spoke english pretty well but he kept forgetting what he was trying to say, which I think was more the fault of the wine than his language skills. He smacked one of the girls in the back of the head when her phone rang in the middle of his lesson. It was pretty funny but I think everyone was pretty shocked. It wasn’t that hard but I could never imagine that happening in the US. Anyway, we tried a Rosse, a desert white wine, and a red wine. Then we went downstairs and I tried probably four or five other wines. It was really interesting and tasty and I learned a lot though I’m not sure how much I retained…I’ll have to go to more wine tastings.
Over the weekend I watched the French put up a pathetic fight against Argentina in the match for third place in the Cup du Monde for Rugby. I also watched the championship game, England vs South Africa. Marie kept saying, “Elizabeth et moi, nous destons les anglais…allez allez Afrique du Sud!” Translation: We hate the English…Go South Africa! She is pretty funny. She was happy South Africa won and it was a really good game. It was the first match I’ve watched that I actually enjoyed, lots of heart. I have also found a new love. His name is Johnny W---something. He’s the kicker? For the English team and he’s gorgeous. Too bad rugby is over.
I spent most of Saturday on a second quest for jeans since the only pair I brought have a broken zipper. In my two searches I must have tried on at least 35 different pairs of jeans and none of them fit. So you know where I ended up? At the freakin Gap. Ya, that’s right. I’m in France and I went to the Gap. Oh well, they fit, they were cheap, and the zipper works. Done. The rest of the weekend I spent trying to stay warm.
I’m not sure what happened but it all of a sudden became really cold here. Sunday I wore a long sleeve shirt, a sweatshirt, sweat pants, gloves, a hat, knee-high snowboarding socks, and slippers…and I was in bed. FREEZING!!! There is a weird white metal thing in my room that I finally figured out is a heater and not simply a towel rack ☺. Unfortunately it’s not working at the moment. I’m dying.
Last night I watched one of the worst movies ever made, “The Day After Tomorrow”. I had successfully avoided watching that movie until yesterday but with French TV you take what you can get. It was on public television and even though it was dubbed in french and I couldn’t totally understand the terrible dialogue, it was horrible…to the point that I couldn’t stop laughing for the last 20 minutes. Next Sunday Harry Potter comes on but I’ll be in Amsterdam. Darn. ☺
Every host family operates differently. Some families never have wine, some have wine and don’t give any to the students, some have wine only at dinner parties and some, like mine, have wine every night and always offer it to me. My family lets me watch TV with them, which seems obvious and natural but some families don’t let their students sit in the salon with them so I’m very thankful. Just watching french tv at night with Marie et Marie T. makes me feel more like I’m in France. I just get absored in what I’m watching and I sometimes forget I’m listening to another language and translating it in my mind. Something like breathing…until I hear words I don’t know and then I’m sent gasping for air, snapped back into reality as American student in a foreign country. I watch the news, the weather, a couple shows I really hate, whatever movies are on, sports and a hell of a lot of Cold Case dubbed in French. Tonight I finally noticed a real improvement in my french. I didn’t realize it until the episode of Cold Case was over but I understood nearly every conversation, not word for word but well enough to know each person’s story and motives and what not. It was such an awesome feeling. Just thought I would share that with you all. I’m learning and I’m not even studying. ☺
Ahh 3 days until departure! I’ve sorted out where I’m staying in Amsterdam. I am staying in a few different hostels in Amsterdam, moving as friends come and go and Friday and Saturday night I am staying with Anna, a girl I met at camp that lives in Amsterdam. I can’t wait to see her. I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures! I can’t take any of the prostitutes unfortunately, I was informed that is frowned upon. Sorry all. Only 3 more tests and one more paper until I’m free!
Can’t wait to tell you all about the Netherlands and Spain!
Bisous! Bisous!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
A cup o' Tea, a bacon sandwich and one break up please
Bonjours mes amis! I spent this past weekend in England and as some of you may know, it could have been better. I went to visit Marc and we are no longer seeing each other. So Sunday pretty much sucked but I will focus on the good aspects.
I arrived in London on Thursday and navigated my way to Southampton by way of two trains and a couple busses on the Underground. It was actually not as scary as I thought it would be, I managed to not get lost. Ahh success! The entire trip took about 3 ½ hours. The trains were pretty cool because I got to see some of the country side and the weather was pretty clear. I saw sheep for the first time, of course they were way off in a field but still I thought it was pretty cool.
Friday I went to London and around seeing the city. I ate a waffle with ice cream on top of it for lunch. It was too sweet for ME to finish! Jeeze. I can drink 10 Dr. Peppers a day. How is that possible? Anyway, London is alright. I wanted to go so I could say I’ve been and now that I have I can honestly say I don’t really care to go back. I got to see some of the sights like Big Ben, Trafalgar Square and Buckingham Palace, which was massively disappointing. They didn’t even have the guards out in the stupid outfits! Dang it. Anyway, on the way to Buckingham Palace I walked through Queen’s Park (I think) and it was my favorite part of the city, probably because it looked nothing like a city. All the beautiful flowers, the water, the Willow trees and the animals made it very enjoyable. I saw a bird I have never seen before, it was freakin huge and looked extremely out of place. Cool though. I walked through some of the Tate Modern Museum of Art. Hmm not really the art I’m interested in but some of the sketches were really cool. I also saw a couple paintings by Pollock which made me think of my wonderful sister. I also saw my first Monet, Water Lillies. It was gigantic. I’m more excited about Le Louvre and Le Musee d’Orsey, much more my flavor!
After London we headed down south to Bournemouth to visit one of Marc’s friends. I tried my first cup of English tea, complete with milk…aww man it was good. Then he took us to a delicious Chinese place. I’ve been craving Chinese since I left the US so it was perfect. After that I went to a local bar before heading back to his friend’s place for the night. His friend showed me some great pictures of Whales. I really wish I could have made it over there, it was so beautiful. Also I wish I could have tried a crumpet, I still don’t even know what they look like. A waffle meets a pancake meets a scone? What the hell? Hmm forever a mystery.
Saturday I had my first bacon sandwich, which is apparently big in England. The bacon is much much thicker than in the states, just big cuts of ham that you crisp like bacon then put on bread with ketchup. It was surprisingly good. After my cup of tea and sandwich the three of us went to an Aquarium by the beach where I got to see some pretty cool marine life. I got to see them feed sharks and turtles. Did you know in the last Olympics some swimmers wore suits designed with Sharkskin Technology which made them 4% faster through the water? Just a bit of fact for your day. My favorite sea creature was a red and white starfish, pretty sweet. The rest of the day I watched the English beat Estonia in football at a pub and then I watched them beat France in the Rugby world cup. Poor France. I felt a little tear coming on. Marie was very disappointed. ☹
So to sum up I got to see some cool things, spent a hell of a lot of time on the trains, mastered the Underground and got to try English tea and a bacon sandwich. That’s England in a nutshell. I’ll take Texas any day.
I spent yesterday reworking my fall break which I will be spending in Amsterdam and Spain. I am so excited! I hear Spain is far cheaper than France so I am looking forward to doing a little shopping! My one mission is to buy a couple cartons of cigarettes for my Marie’s. ☺ After the trip planning I went with some girls from school to a ballet practice for a show that is opening this weekend. I have never seen ballet before so it was cool to watch. After the practice they had a Q and A session and a woman from the audience reemed the Choreographer for setting modern dance to classical music and it was pretty funny.
This week I am pretty swamped preparing for my midterms next week and writing a couple papers. Don’t fear Auntie Kathie, I’m still making time to go out for drinks at Le Sunset and I'm going to my first Wine Tasting Friday afternoon. Ahh college. La bonne vie!
Wish you all were here! Oh and Howdy to Grandpa Butch! Mom told me you were keeping up with my blog. Come visit me in France?
Muah!
I arrived in London on Thursday and navigated my way to Southampton by way of two trains and a couple busses on the Underground. It was actually not as scary as I thought it would be, I managed to not get lost. Ahh success! The entire trip took about 3 ½ hours. The trains were pretty cool because I got to see some of the country side and the weather was pretty clear. I saw sheep for the first time, of course they were way off in a field but still I thought it was pretty cool.
Friday I went to London and around seeing the city. I ate a waffle with ice cream on top of it for lunch. It was too sweet for ME to finish! Jeeze. I can drink 10 Dr. Peppers a day. How is that possible? Anyway, London is alright. I wanted to go so I could say I’ve been and now that I have I can honestly say I don’t really care to go back. I got to see some of the sights like Big Ben, Trafalgar Square and Buckingham Palace, which was massively disappointing. They didn’t even have the guards out in the stupid outfits! Dang it. Anyway, on the way to Buckingham Palace I walked through Queen’s Park (I think) and it was my favorite part of the city, probably because it looked nothing like a city. All the beautiful flowers, the water, the Willow trees and the animals made it very enjoyable. I saw a bird I have never seen before, it was freakin huge and looked extremely out of place. Cool though. I walked through some of the Tate Modern Museum of Art. Hmm not really the art I’m interested in but some of the sketches were really cool. I also saw a couple paintings by Pollock which made me think of my wonderful sister. I also saw my first Monet, Water Lillies. It was gigantic. I’m more excited about Le Louvre and Le Musee d’Orsey, much more my flavor!
After London we headed down south to Bournemouth to visit one of Marc’s friends. I tried my first cup of English tea, complete with milk…aww man it was good. Then he took us to a delicious Chinese place. I’ve been craving Chinese since I left the US so it was perfect. After that I went to a local bar before heading back to his friend’s place for the night. His friend showed me some great pictures of Whales. I really wish I could have made it over there, it was so beautiful. Also I wish I could have tried a crumpet, I still don’t even know what they look like. A waffle meets a pancake meets a scone? What the hell? Hmm forever a mystery.
Saturday I had my first bacon sandwich, which is apparently big in England. The bacon is much much thicker than in the states, just big cuts of ham that you crisp like bacon then put on bread with ketchup. It was surprisingly good. After my cup of tea and sandwich the three of us went to an Aquarium by the beach where I got to see some pretty cool marine life. I got to see them feed sharks and turtles. Did you know in the last Olympics some swimmers wore suits designed with Sharkskin Technology which made them 4% faster through the water? Just a bit of fact for your day. My favorite sea creature was a red and white starfish, pretty sweet. The rest of the day I watched the English beat Estonia in football at a pub and then I watched them beat France in the Rugby world cup. Poor France. I felt a little tear coming on. Marie was very disappointed. ☹
So to sum up I got to see some cool things, spent a hell of a lot of time on the trains, mastered the Underground and got to try English tea and a bacon sandwich. That’s England in a nutshell. I’ll take Texas any day.
I spent yesterday reworking my fall break which I will be spending in Amsterdam and Spain. I am so excited! I hear Spain is far cheaper than France so I am looking forward to doing a little shopping! My one mission is to buy a couple cartons of cigarettes for my Marie’s. ☺ After the trip planning I went with some girls from school to a ballet practice for a show that is opening this weekend. I have never seen ballet before so it was cool to watch. After the practice they had a Q and A session and a woman from the audience reemed the Choreographer for setting modern dance to classical music and it was pretty funny.
This week I am pretty swamped preparing for my midterms next week and writing a couple papers. Don’t fear Auntie Kathie, I’m still making time to go out for drinks at Le Sunset and I'm going to my first Wine Tasting Friday afternoon. Ahh college. La bonne vie!
Wish you all were here! Oh and Howdy to Grandpa Butch! Mom told me you were keeping up with my blog. Come visit me in France?
Muah!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
PROUST!
I'm pretty sure that's how you spell it...That’s cheers in German. Germany is AWESOME! I love Germany and I have to go back! Not this year but I will definetly return.
We arrived on Friday night and found our hostel, The Tent. My first experience at a youth hostel was great too. The Tent is a large camp ground where people can set up their own equipment outside or they can rent a bed. There is a huge tent set up with 150-200 bunk beds set up inside with lockers for your stuff. Outside there was a bonfire each night, some hammocks, picnic tables, and a café that served cheap beer. There were people from all over and I met some really cool people from Australia who were traveling in Europe then in the states for 18 months.
Saturday and Sunday morning we spent walking around Munich and at Oktoberfest. I had no idea what to expect from Oktoberfest and it was great! It’s basically a huge festival with rides, carnival games, delicious food vendors, gift stands and gigantic beer gardens and tents. Of course, everything is centered around beer and German culture. My favorite part, besides the beer ☺ were the people walking around in authentic german outfits. Everyone did it too: little boys and girls all the way up to people in their 70’s! It was great.
Another great thing about Germany is that people drink beer everywhere! On the trains, in the supermarkets, walking down the street…it doesn’t matter. I thought that was really cool. AND things are so much cheaper in Germany. God France is expensive. In France I can buy a pint of beer for 5.5 Euros and usually the beer is crap. In Germany I got a mug of beer, which is a liter, for 4 Euros. Everything is cheaper here and the sausage was delicious! At the Spaten beer tent on Sunday I ate a roasted half chicken and tried some potato salad. I have never tasted potato salad like that before. Ahh, I miss it already! I love love love love love Germany! The people are friendly, the food is great, and the beer is delicious.
We left Sunday afternoon, sadly, but I was glad to get back to a real bed in a heated room. Munich is a bit colder than the south of France.
Tomorrow I am heading out to England where I will be shown around by an authentic Englander. ☺ I can’t wait to try Tea with milk and hopefully I will get to try a crumpet as well! I’m going to check out Southampton, Bournemouth ? and we are spending a day doing the touristy London thing. I’ll tell the Queen you all said Hello.
Also I wanted to say Congratulations to Tree! I’m so glad to hear you won’t be outnumbered so badly anymore!
I love you all,
Dizzy
We arrived on Friday night and found our hostel, The Tent. My first experience at a youth hostel was great too. The Tent is a large camp ground where people can set up their own equipment outside or they can rent a bed. There is a huge tent set up with 150-200 bunk beds set up inside with lockers for your stuff. Outside there was a bonfire each night, some hammocks, picnic tables, and a café that served cheap beer. There were people from all over and I met some really cool people from Australia who were traveling in Europe then in the states for 18 months.
Saturday and Sunday morning we spent walking around Munich and at Oktoberfest. I had no idea what to expect from Oktoberfest and it was great! It’s basically a huge festival with rides, carnival games, delicious food vendors, gift stands and gigantic beer gardens and tents. Of course, everything is centered around beer and German culture. My favorite part, besides the beer ☺ were the people walking around in authentic german outfits. Everyone did it too: little boys and girls all the way up to people in their 70’s! It was great.
Another great thing about Germany is that people drink beer everywhere! On the trains, in the supermarkets, walking down the street…it doesn’t matter. I thought that was really cool. AND things are so much cheaper in Germany. God France is expensive. In France I can buy a pint of beer for 5.5 Euros and usually the beer is crap. In Germany I got a mug of beer, which is a liter, for 4 Euros. Everything is cheaper here and the sausage was delicious! At the Spaten beer tent on Sunday I ate a roasted half chicken and tried some potato salad. I have never tasted potato salad like that before. Ahh, I miss it already! I love love love love love Germany! The people are friendly, the food is great, and the beer is delicious.
We left Sunday afternoon, sadly, but I was glad to get back to a real bed in a heated room. Munich is a bit colder than the south of France.
Tomorrow I am heading out to England where I will be shown around by an authentic Englander. ☺ I can’t wait to try Tea with milk and hopefully I will get to try a crumpet as well! I’m going to check out Southampton, Bournemouth ? and we are spending a day doing the touristy London thing. I’ll tell the Queen you all said Hello.
Also I wanted to say Congratulations to Tree! I’m so glad to hear you won’t be outnumbered so badly anymore!
I love you all,
Dizzy
Monday, October 1, 2007
C'est bon comme ca
Bon soit mes amis! I’ve been here three weeks now and time is starting to fly by. Last week was pretty tame for the most part. Nothing too exciting except there is a bar here called IPN that has beer pong on Wednesday nights and afterwards there is a DJ who plays a bunch of rap music. How american can you get? I showed up for the dancing and I think in the entire time I was there I heard 1 French rap song. All the rest were American rappers. It was strange. I don’t think French people actually go to IPN. The presence of American music here is insane! I almost NEVER hear French music. Not on the radio, in the bars, in the clubs…it’s actually kind of annoying. I was hoping to uncover some amazing French artists but they are harder to find that I anticipated.
This weekend my plans changed quite a bit. Originally I was going to Paris but the ticket prices shot way way way up so I bailed out. Then I planned on hiking Mount St. Victoire, which is the mountain Cezanne painted hundreds of times. However, when we showed up to the bus station we were informed that the trail was closed Friday because Le Mistrale (the wind that comes through Provence) was FIERCE and there was a high chance of fire. Bummer. So instead we decided to enjoy an afternoon of frisbee and people watching at the parc over some wine and cheese. YUMMMM.
Then on Saturday we were supposed to go to Cassis where there is a beautiful beach and big rocks to jump off of. However, it was really overcast and a little chilly, damn Mistrale, and we missed the bus. SO…we spent the day exploring the market and shops in Aix. I finally found a warm winter jacket! I really could have used that this past week. Le Mistrale snuck up on us Wednesday and I went from wearing shorts and a tank to sweaters and scarfs! Out of no where! None of the American students were prepared for the ferocity of Le Mistrale. Thankfully the weather is back to normal now. Beautiful!
My french teacher Margaux says that Le Mistrale effects your mind and emotions and some people start acting funny. She said she’s seen people walking around completely naked. Hmmm….I haven’t seen it yet but I’ll be sure to take a picture if I do. I felt pretty tired for a few days and kind of out of it but I don’t know if the wind is to blame. All the stories of Le Mistrale remind me of what mom says when there is a full moon, “All the crazies are out!”
Today Marie and Marie T. invited me to hike a different mountain about 30 or 40 minutes out from Aix. They organized a hike with some people Marie used to work with. It was about 12 of us I think and it took us almost four hours. It was beautiful! From the top I could see Aix, Mt. Saint Victoire and Marseille…it was really really cool! The best part was stopping for lunch. We packed a picnic and Marie made me a sandwich and I had was drinking from my water bottle when they busted out the wine. Who drinks wine while hiking?!? Hahahah. How great are the French? We also had some wicked good bread ;) that Marie T. made. It was like Strawberry bread (sigh) but made with Figs. Oh man…so delicious!
Needless to say I am freakin exhausted and not ready to go back to school tomorrow. This week I actually have a test, a quiz, and a really short paper due. ☹ I have a feeling I’m not going to be able to walk tomorrow as I can already feel the soreness creeping into my thighs.
Off to watch some French TV!
Holla.
Post Script My mother’s first born has informed me that the actual spelling of my name is Franc-Ass.
This weekend my plans changed quite a bit. Originally I was going to Paris but the ticket prices shot way way way up so I bailed out. Then I planned on hiking Mount St. Victoire, which is the mountain Cezanne painted hundreds of times. However, when we showed up to the bus station we were informed that the trail was closed Friday because Le Mistrale (the wind that comes through Provence) was FIERCE and there was a high chance of fire. Bummer. So instead we decided to enjoy an afternoon of frisbee and people watching at the parc over some wine and cheese. YUMMMM.
Then on Saturday we were supposed to go to Cassis where there is a beautiful beach and big rocks to jump off of. However, it was really overcast and a little chilly, damn Mistrale, and we missed the bus. SO…we spent the day exploring the market and shops in Aix. I finally found a warm winter jacket! I really could have used that this past week. Le Mistrale snuck up on us Wednesday and I went from wearing shorts and a tank to sweaters and scarfs! Out of no where! None of the American students were prepared for the ferocity of Le Mistrale. Thankfully the weather is back to normal now. Beautiful!
My french teacher Margaux says that Le Mistrale effects your mind and emotions and some people start acting funny. She said she’s seen people walking around completely naked. Hmmm….I haven’t seen it yet but I’ll be sure to take a picture if I do. I felt pretty tired for a few days and kind of out of it but I don’t know if the wind is to blame. All the stories of Le Mistrale remind me of what mom says when there is a full moon, “All the crazies are out!”
Today Marie and Marie T. invited me to hike a different mountain about 30 or 40 minutes out from Aix. They organized a hike with some people Marie used to work with. It was about 12 of us I think and it took us almost four hours. It was beautiful! From the top I could see Aix, Mt. Saint Victoire and Marseille…it was really really cool! The best part was stopping for lunch. We packed a picnic and Marie made me a sandwich and I had was drinking from my water bottle when they busted out the wine. Who drinks wine while hiking?!? Hahahah. How great are the French? We also had some wicked good bread ;) that Marie T. made. It was like Strawberry bread (sigh) but made with Figs. Oh man…so delicious!
Needless to say I am freakin exhausted and not ready to go back to school tomorrow. This week I actually have a test, a quiz, and a really short paper due. ☹ I have a feeling I’m not going to be able to walk tomorrow as I can already feel the soreness creeping into my thighs.
Off to watch some French TV!
Holla.
Post Script My mother’s first born has informed me that the actual spelling of my name is Franc-Ass.
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